By Mario Deepromoter

Tunisian pilot who flew the Super Eagles team to Libya reveals he was instructed by Libyan authority to divert the plane to a different location.

According to the pilot, the original flight plan was to land the aircraft in Benghazi, Libya, as approved by the aviation authorities. But later they were suddenly directed by officials to divert to another airport just as they neared their destination.

“The flight plan was to land in Benghazi. We got the approval from the Libyan civil aviation authority that we were approved to land,” the pilot explained. “But unfortunately, when we started the descent, they asked us to divert to Mitiga, which is almost 150 miles (300 km) away. This was not even our alternate airport.”

The pilot said he warned the officials that the diversion would have severely impacted their fuel reserves, and could compromise the safety of the flight.

I asked them several times, at least eight times, and I warned them that I would be in trouble for the fuel situation,” the pilot recounted. “They said it was from the highest authority and that we had to divert to Mitiga immediately.”

The pilot later complied with the directive. Thankfully, the aircraft landed safely in Mitiga with no challenges.

This revelation comes hours after Super Eagles players reported that had been mistreated by Libyan authorities ahead of their Tuesday match, which they later boycotted and flew back home after being held hostage for 20 hours.

In a series of tweets early Monday morning, Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong described the situation as “disgraceful,” accusing the hosts of playing “mind games.”

He revealed that the team was kept in an abandoned airport with no access to food, drink, or phone connections.

Nigeria defeated Libya 1-0 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Friday, October 11. Both nations were scheduled to play the return leg in Libya on October 15.

…as Community Raises Funds For Burial

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

A Nigerian lady identified as Olubunmi Okeniyi, has passed away almost a month after relocating to the United Kingdom with her two children.

Mrs Okeniyi, who arrived in Sunderland on September 16, 2024, died on Sunday, October 13.

The news of her death was confirmed by the Nigerian community in the UK, who issued a statement on social media platform X on Monday.

In their message, they expressed their condolences and announced the establishment of a GoFundMe campaign to assist with burial expenses for the deceased.

The statement read, “With deep sadness, we announce the passing of Mrs. Olubunmi Okeniyi, who tragically passed away on the 13/10/24, at 4:30pm in Sunderland, UK.

“Mrs. Olubunmi, who arrived from Nigeria with her two sons on 16/09/24, is survived by her husband, Mr. Jacob Okeniyi.

“We are urgently seeking donations to assist with her immediate burial, as her husband cannot afford the costs.

“Please support by donating through the link below.

“Every contribution, no matter how small, will be deeply appreciated during this difficult time,” the statement said.

Gistcore.com

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) gave blow by blow account of the incident Super Eagles and its officials went through in 20 points of 20-hour ordeal

According to NFF’s Director of Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire, a point-by-point account of how a keenly-anticipated Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match was relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation was narrated.

The chartered ValueJet aircraft departed from the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at 11.55hours on Sunday, 13th October 2024, and landed at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano at 13.10hours, for the completion of immigration formalities and for the aircraft to refuel.

_2) The aircraft took off from Kano at 15.18hours, for the 3 hours and 35 minutes flight to Benghazi, Libya, expecting to arrive a few minutes before 8pm Libya time.

_3) Just as he was about to commence his initial approach into Benghazi, the captain (pilot) was instructed by the control tower that he could not land in Benghazi (despite having all the required landing papers and having completed all formalities before leaving Uyo and later, Kano, but should proceed to the Al-Abraq International Airport, even though the airport lacked the control navigators for landing at such hours.

He complained that he was short on fuel but his words fell on deaf ears as he was told in stern manner that the directive was from ‘higher authorities

4) On landing at the Al-Abraq International Airport, in the small town of Labraq, at 19.50hours, it was clear that the airport was not a well-utilized facility. There were no scanning machines or the usual equipment for this service, and officials had to make do with mobile phones to scan passport data pages.

_5) The delegation, which included 22 players and team officials; NFF President Alh. Ibrahim Musa Gusau; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu; a couple of NFF Board members; NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi; a couple of parliamentarians; a couple of NFF Management; a couple of media representatives and; a couple of stakeholders, was shown scant respect by the airport authorities who applied curt manners and stern tones.

_6) It took over one hour for the team’s luggage to roll through the carousel, despite the fact that the bags and other items had already been hauled from the aircraft immediately on arrival.

_7) No official of the Libyan Football Federation was at the airport to receive the delegation, as is the best practice globally. Airport officials could not answer the simple question on where the buses that would take the delegation members back to Benghazi (where the NFF had booked hotel rooms) were.

_8) When delegation members including the NFF President, Comrade Shaibu and Dr Sanusi attempted to venture outside the airport to ascertain if there were vehicles waiting for the team, they were stopped in the most uncouth of manners by airport security personnel.

_9) Calls to the General Secretary of LFF, Mr. Abdul-Nasser by Dr Sanusi yielded no fruits as the former kept promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later became ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later in the evening, it was no longer possible to reach him on the phone. Frustrated by this attitude, Dr Sanusi approached the security operatives to request that the team be allowed to go out and board the buses the NFF eventually hired.

This request was rejected with insults. It took the intervention of the NFF dignitaries to prevent what would have escalated into a row as the NFF President himself was not spared when he heard exchange of voices between the security personnel and his General Secretary. This aggravated the tension and further frustrated the team